In downtown Syracuse, the storm struck most fiercely shortly after 1 p.m., knocking down at least one tent at Clinton Square, the site of the Irish festival.

In Auburn, where the storm arrived sooner, organizers shut down the TomatoFest in the morning.

John Berry / The Post-StandardJediah Padua, 2, of Oswego pops his umbrella open and closed just as heavy rains start falling during the Golden Harvest Festival on Saturday.

Mike Padula, co-president, said the TomatoFest would resume Sunday at 9 a.m., two hours earlier than its usual Sunday start time.

This is the 27th year for the festival and Padula said, "every year we had a bad day. But not like this."

The Duck Race set for Saturday afternoon at St. Francis of Assisi in Bridgeport was moved to next Saturday, said organizer Patty Hendrick. "We're not going to have anybody," she said shortly before the planned start time as rain and winds wracked the area.

The event will begin Sept. 15 with a pizza taste-off at 2 p.m. and the duck race at 3 p.m., she said.

Sean Johnston, co-chair of the Syracuse Irish Festival, said the early-day program for Saturday, including the Irish-language Mass, was lost. However, at 3:30 p.m. the School of Celtic Rock would get the festival re-started and the rest of planned program would resume from there.
Power outages related to the storm were reported around the area with several hundred customers affected.

Dispatchers reported a scattering of calls concerning tree limbs and utility lines down. North Syracuse firefighters were called to a report of tree down on a house.